假如像航空公司一樣管理世界

想像一下，假如航空公司開餐館會出現什麼情況。倘若如此，半塊三明治（它好比一張單程票）的價格恐怕會高達一整塊三明治的兩倍。航空公司的經營方式可謂獨一無二──它有種種規定和限制、稅費名目繁多、常常給人帶來失望和擾亂，而像它如此這般的行業少之又少。對產品的定價像它這樣多種多樣、變化無常的行業也為數不多。而且，如它一般動輒向客戶收取數百美元罰金的行業也非常罕見。為什麼航空業會如此與眾不同呢？這是因為航空公司面臨一系列獨特的挑戰，包括已變得非常簡單的全球比較購物、成本高昂的設備、規章錯綜複雜的外包工作、以及易於受到油價波動和嚴厲政府管制的衝擊等等。除此之外，無論天氣狀況如何，它還容易受到戶外發生的幾乎所有事情的影響。由於飛行的樂趣已然消退，近些年航空業的境況變得愈加複雜。簡化的定價機制在試行後宣告失敗，為其創收的收費和罰金被推得越來越高，其結果是：改簽一張國內機票的費用竟達到200美元（約合人民幣1,236元）。麻省理工學院(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)航空運輸國際研究中心(International Center for Air Transportation)主任R.•約翰•漢斯曼(R. John Hansman)說：“它確實是一個艱難的行業，那麼多事情都要取決於許多你無法控制的因素。” 航空業的運作相互聯繫，一趟航班晚點可能會導致另外三四趟航班晚點，而這些晚點事件一整天都會帶來後續影響。漢斯曼說：“就算有人把一塊三明治做得一團糟，可另外40塊卻不會因此也一團糟。” 航空公司的定價也是一件讓消費者頗為惱火的事情，但這卻讓其他企業羨慕不已。加州大學爾灣分校(University of California, Irvine)研究航空業的經濟學家簡•布魯克納(Jan Brueckner)稱，許多行業都樂於將顧客劃分為不同群體，根據他們的支付能力製定不同的價格。一些百貨商店嘗試推出優惠券，不過把這種模式發揮到極致的還是航空公司。在布魯克納看來，航空公司的做法好比一小時接一小時地不斷調整商店貨架上玉米片的價格。如果真的這麼做又會如何呢？我們決定構想出另一個由航空公司經營一切的世界：Subwings三明治店在接近午餐時段、對三明治的需求達到頂峰之時，Subwings會上調三明治的價格。烤牛肉三明治的生產成本也許比金槍魚三明治高，但如果街對面的銀行人士更喜歡金槍魚三明治，那麼它就會成為菜單上價格最貴的三明治。Subwings還會密切關注競爭對手。假如Joe's Subs將博洛尼亞香腸三明治從菜單中撤下，它就會把這種三明治的價格提高一倍。此外，該店顧客在離開前還必須將他們的托盤放回一個豎立並上鎖的地方。Airmazon.com網絡購物巨頭Airmazon.com運用一批電腦來製定牛仔褲的價格。比方說，在2月份的周二和周三購買和穿著的牛仔褲通常最便宜，在12月份買來作為禮物的 ​​牛仔褲的價格會更貴。如果你想馬上就能穿上新牛仔褲，那麼其售價可能會高達提前30天購買的牛仔褲的10倍。無論以何折扣購買的商品都不得退換，除非你願意付一筆200美元的換貨費。Airmazon有一個顧客忠誠計劃，顧客可用積分兌換商品。不過，若在銷售低迷的月份兌換，你的機會將更大一些。如果你想在7月兌換一條暢銷款牛仔褲，那麼只能祝你好運。假如Airmazon送貨延誤，如果是天氣或交通原因，該公司不用承擔責任。假如是在Airmazon可控範圍內的問題導致你的牛仔褲沒有送達，它會藉給你一條運動褲先穿著。L'Aire酒店你在酒店訂了一間房間，你會獲得什麼？供你過夜的四面。L'Aire酒店的所有設施和服務都實行按單收費，住客只為他們使用的設施和服務付費。他們把這稱作“住客超級優選”(GuestMegaChoice)。想要房間有張床？那得另付50美元一晚。打算洗個熱水澡？熱水淋浴每10分鐘收費15美元。客房內有一台電視，不過如果你想看的話，要么你用自己帶來的遙控器，要么就以每晚3美元的價格租一個。在L'Aire酒店，提前預定一個自己心儀的房間收費10美元，另付10美元可以提前入住。想搭優先乘坐的電梯？請付10美元。在線退房是免費的，但去前台找接待員辦理退房則需支付25美元的人工費。紐瓦克“飛行員”棒球隊(The Newark Pilots) Michael Witte你的棒球比賽門票上印有你的名字，如果你想送給朋友，你必須支付換票費。買票觀看“飛行員”隊棒球比賽的觀眾必須在門票上加上姓名，而且不得更改姓名。這一做法是為了防止個人或企業購買一整季比賽的門票（“飛行員”隊並不提供季票套餐），然後讓一大群不同的人用這些票看比賽。不得更改姓名的政策是為了防止觀看大量棒球比賽的團體、或是可能想控制門票存量的財力充裕的企業家提前大量購買打折票，然後把它們轉給其他人。（這並不是一條萬無一失的規定：與某些航空公司一樣，“飛行員”隊也可收費更改票上的姓名。）在StubHub上轉賣“飛行員”隊比賽門票是被嚴格禁止的，把你用不了的票送給好友同樣不行。該隊的售票處不允許換票，除非你願意支付每張票200美元的換票費。“飛行員”隊的球員偶爾也會比賽遲到，或者下雨也會迫使比賽推遲。不用擔心：該隊承諾一定會通知你，儘管你可能能從自己的智能手機上獲得更有用的信息。Whole Fare百貨店為 ​​了把更多顧客塞進店內，高端百貨店Whole Fare最近將通道排列得更加緊湊。這可使每家門店的通道數增加，還可帶來更多收入。沿著通道走路時，消費者不得不轉到側旁，而且只有首先進店的那批顧客才有足夠的空間推著購物車。顧客們抱怨在整個購物過程都感覺擁擠。於是，Whole Fare最近為願意付更多錢的顧客安排了更寬的走道。他們把它稱為“超級經濟購物區 ​​”(Economy Extra)，儘管那些通道只是和門店當初開張時的通道一樣寬。該公司還開設了一批Whole Fare社區店，這些規模較小的門店由承包商經營。Whole Fare說，通過這些社區店，他們可以向規模不夠大、不足以支撐一家完整的Whole Fare門店的小社區提供雜貨。然而，到這些社區店購物的消費者抱怨它的商品售價更貴，走道還要更窄，而且他們的購物袋常常丟失。許多顧客說，每當聽到門店工作人員大聲喊著要大家“準備好總結賬”時，他們總是覺得緊張不安。萊特兄弟小學(Wright Brothers Elementary)所有書包必須符合學校分配的書包架的大小，而且重量不得超過25磅（約合11.3公斤）。書包一旦超重，學校將收取超重費。如果書包架沒有地方存放書包，你可以把它寄存到你在當天的最後一堂課結束為止。運動包可存在體育館的儲物櫃中，每個包收取25美元存包費，剛入隊的校隊隊員及持有白金級公交通票的學生均可免交存包費。另外，從秋季開始，將書包存在書包架上也將開始收費。 Imagine if airlines ran restaurants. We'd live in a world where a half sandwich, the equivalent of a one-way ticket, might cost two times as much as a whole sandwich. The airline way of doing business is unique─few other businesses have as many rules and restrictions, taxes and fees, frustrations and disruptions. Not many other businesses have such varied and ever-changing pricing for their products. And rare is the business that hits its customers with penalties of hundreds of dollars. Why so different? Airlines face a unique set of challenges, including easy world-wide comparison shopping, high equipment costs, complicated contract work rules, vulnerability to oil price swings and heavy government regulation. And most everything happens outdoors, whatever the weather. The business has gotten far more complex in recent years as the joys of flying have diminished. Simplified pricing schemes have been tried and have failed. Fees and penalties that have generated revenue have been pushed higher and higher. The result: a $200 fee to change a domestic reservation. 'It's a really hard business,' said R. John Hansman, director of the International Center for Air Transportation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 'So much depends on many things beyond your control.' The operation is so interconnected that one late flight can make three or four others late, and those delays reverberate all day. 'Someone messes up a sandwich, but there are not 40 other sandwiches messed up,' Dr. Hansman said. Airline pricing is something consumers find maddening, but it makes other businesses envious. Many businesses would like to segment customers into different groups, with different prices based on ability to pay, says Jan Brueckner, an economist at the University of California, Irvine, who studies the airline industry. Grocery stores try with coupons, but airlines have taken this model to an extreme. 'It's as if the prices of cornflakes were being changed hour by hour on store shelves,' said Dr. Brueckner. What if they were? We decided to conjure an alternate universe where airlines run everything: Subwings Sandwich Shop Prices at Subwings go up closer to lunchtime, when demand for sandwiches peaks. It may cost more to produce a sandwich with roast beef than tuna, but if the bankers across the street prefer tuna, it's going to be the most expensive sandwich on the menu. Subwings pays close attention to competitors. If Joe's Subs dropped bologna from its menu, Subwings would quickly double the price on bologna sandwiches. At Subwings, customers must return their trays to an upright and locked position before departing. Airmazon.com Online shopping giant Airmazon.com employs a flotilla of computers to set the price of a pair of jeans. Those bought and worn on Tuesday and Wednesday in February are usually cheapest. Jeans intended as gifts in December cost more. If you want to wear the jeans right away, the price can be 10 times as much as jeans bought 30 days in advance. Any item purchased at any sort of discounted price will be nonreturnable, unless you pay a $200 exchange fee. Airmazon has a customer loyalty program where points can be redeemed for merchandise, but your odds are better redeeming in slow sales months. Good luck trying to get popular jeans in July. If Airmazon is late with delivery, the company won't be responsible if weather or traffic is to blame. If your jeans don't arrive because of a problem within Airmazon's control, the company lends you sweatpants. Hotel L'Aire You book a hotel room and what do you get? Four walls for the night. Hotel L'Aire has made all amenities a la carte so customers only pay for what they use. They call it GuestMegaChoice. Want a bed with your room? That's an extra $50 per night. Plan to take a shower? There's a hot-water surcharge of $15 per 10-minute shower. A TV is included, but if you want to use it, you can either bring your own remote control or rent one for $3 a night. At L'Aire, reserving a room of your choice in advance will cost you a $10 fee. You can pay $10 extra for early check-in. Want to ride priority elevators? $10, please. Checking out online is free, but talking to a desk clerk carries a $25 real-person fee. The Newark Pilots At Pilots baseball games, the buyer must attach a name to the ticket, and the name can't change. This practice is to prevent one person or company from buying a whole season of tickets─season-ticket packages aren't offered by the Pilots─and then letting a lot of different people use them. A policy of no name changes keeps groups that watch a lot of baseball, or resourceful entrepreneurs who might want to control ticket inventory, from buying up a lot of discount seats in advance and handing them out to others. (It's not a security rule: The Pilots, like some airlines, will change names on tickets, for a fee.) Reselling Pilots tickets on StubHub is strictly prohibited. So is giving them to your buddy if you can't use them. The Pilots ticket office doesn't allow exchanges, either, unless you want to pay a change fee of $200 per ticket. Occasionally, Pilots players arrive late for games or rain forces delays. No worry: The Pilots promise to keep you informed, though you can probably get better information on your smartphone. Whole Fare Market To cram more customers into the store, Whole Fare, a high-end grocery store, recently squeezed its aisles closer together. That created more aisles and more revenue per store. Shoppers have to turn sideways to get down the aisles, however, and only shoppers who enter the store first have enough room for carts. Shoppers complain they are cramped throughout their visit. Whole Fare recently set up wider rows for customers willing to pay higher prices. They call it 'Economy Extra,' even though the rows are the same width the store used to have when it opened. The company also launched a line of Regional Whole Fare Markets─smaller stores run by contractors. Whole Fare says RWF stores allow the company to offer groceries to smaller communities not big enough to support a whole Whole Fare store. But its shoppers complain of higher prices, even smaller aisles and lost shopping bags. Many customers say they are unnerved when a store employee calls out for people to 'prepare for final checkout.' Wright Brothers Elementary All backpacks must fit into the school-issued cubby hole and must weigh less than 25 pounds. If a backpack weighs more, an excess-weight backpack fee will be charged. If there is no room in the cubby for the backpack, it will be checked until your last class of the day. Gym bags can be stored in gym lockers for a $25-per-bag fee, which is waived for starting varsity players and any student holding a platinum-level bus pass. Beginning in the fall, a fee will also be collected for cubby-stored backpacks.